Wingin’ It: From Covenant to College Athletics

In this episode of Wingin’ It, we sit down with three Covenant seniors who recently signed to compete at the collegiate level. They share how they found their path to playing sports in college, what drew them to their schools, and how the recruiting process challenged and shaped them along the way. Along the journey, friendships and faith played a meaningful role, helping define both who they are and where they are headed. It is a conversation about perseverance, community, and finishing strong, and a look at what it truly takes to reach the next level.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hey everyone, this is Callie. This is Ashley.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

And this is Brady. And welcome to Wingin' It, the Covenant School podcast. Hello everyone. Welcome back to our next episode of Wingin' It. Yay! So happy to be back. Today we are going to be joined by three of our student athletes who signed their national letters of intent to play at the next level. Amazing. So excited to hear about them soon. Um, but for now, we have some exciting news to share. Callie, what's going on uh around the nest?

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Okay, okay, so I've got some recaps and then some things on the horizon. First, we haven't had oh my gosh, sorry. All these allergies are coming for my life. I cannot breathe. Okay, anyway. We haven't had a recording since Powder Buff happened. Yeah, um, that was super fun. I think we raised around $500, which is awesome to be donated to the Haven. Oh, amazing. Um, so that was super fun. The junior boys won uh for the upper school tournament, which they've won every single year so far.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Wow, three peat.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Uh-huh. And so they're coming, they're coming in hot off of a winning streak. They're very excited. And then did the eighth graders win? Yes, the eighth graders won. Um for the middle school tournament, and it was a lot of fun. Shout out to Annabelle Satuda for being our student, like coordinator for that event. She did a great job and it was super successful. So great job, super fun. Can't wait for next year. Another recap that I have is from our first ever middle school dance. Yeah, that's right. You guys we had a middle school dance this past Friday, so I don't know, like April, it was April 17th. Um, and that was so fun. The theme that HLT picked was rodeo, or no, hold on, excuse me. Rodeo interchangeable. Um, they had a blast. It was so like sweet to just see them be kids and just have fun. And also just a really fun like social experiment because the middle schoolers have never had a dance right here. Excuse me, I've told you these allergies. They have never had a dance, and so they like they didn't know what to do.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

And so I got just standing on opposite sides of the room.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

No, no, it's it's better than that. So I got like bandanas as party favorites for everybody who came. And within seconds of the boys showing up, they are like, you know, when you take a dish towel and you like swing it and then you like like slap the air with it, they were doing that, and then a couple minutes later, they tied like 20 of them together into jump roping.

SPEAKER_09 3:06

Oh, wow, even better. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

Like a long jump rope and like two people on either side, and then it was so funny.

SPEAKER_09 3:14

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

It was so funny, and they were jump roping in the cafeteria, and I was like, you know what? They don't know how to do this. We're just gonna let them jump rope with the bandanas. And of course, that was the boys, and then all the girls were in the auditorium, like actually dancing and having time with their lives. So I would say it was a success. They had a lot of fun, I had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Um things don't change.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

They yeah, that is incredible. They don't. Um, so that was super fun. Thank you to uh Grogan Kutchen for helping me put that on. All of the in middle school HLT worked really hard. So a success, and I think we'll do it again. Um lastly, oh, just some things coming up for in my world in the world of student activities. Well, we had HLT election day today, um, which was very successful and exciting, and then those results will come out later. Um, and then we've got prom on the horizon, which is May 2nd. So be on the lookout for details about that at the Paramount. And then also middle school field day, which is uh it's the last day of school, so we've got a while before that comes. It's a big day, May 28th. Yeah, my birthday. I know. Very big day. Oh my gosh. You're you will be the queen of field day because it's your birthday. Well, it didn't happen last year. I know it wasn't.

SPEAKER_04 4:37

It was also my birthday last year. So I'm hoping for better weather this year.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Okay, we'll have to keep our fingers crossed. That's all for me. Yeah. Next, who's next?

SPEAKER_04 4:49

I think Ashley's Spring Sports. It is very hard to believe that it is April 21st right now, um, at the time of recording, obviously. Um, we are like moving into the last week and a half of regular season for spring sports, um, which is again just very crazy to believe. It's blown by. Um, but spring is also just kind of a weird season. It's very short, and then spring break has kind of plopped right in the middle of it. Um, but our teams are doing so well, just so, so proud of all of them. Um, spring is busy, as we said on the podcast before. Um, so I won't go into the details of each sport. Um, but very excited for the teams to wrap up regular regular season. Hopefully, on the next episode, I'll have an update um as we're going to conference playoffs and state playoffs. Um, but yes, just very happy for each of the teams. And as Brady said, um, for this episode today, we have three of our five students who signed with us last week um to compete in their sport in college. So I'll give a quick shout-out to all five. But we have um Owen Kulati, who is swimming at WL, um, John Nathan Lawrence, who is running track and field and cross country at Princeton, Miller Grimes, who is playing volleyball at MIT, Savannah Wood, who is running and doing cross-country and track at Lynchburg. And then last but not least, we have Price Lineweaver, who is running cross-country and track at Swanee. Um, so just very, very happy for all five of those kids. They've worked extremely hard at their sports and are just going to five just great academic schools where they also get to do their sport.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Yeah. Plus, was it four or five who signed in the fall?

SPEAKER_04 6:32

We had four in the fall. Yeah. That is so awesome.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Nine out of a class of like almost sixty. I know. Like that percentage. Their ratio is incredible.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

Yeah. If you look at past years as well, even last year, I mean, I think it ended up being 11 total. I mean, our school is pretty small. Like each class has 50 to 60 kids in it on average. So that's a pretty large percentage when you look at just the United States as a whole. I think it's like five percent of kids go on to play college athletics. So I would say our percentages are pretty, pretty strong, um, which is just a testament to how hard our kids work. Yeah. Yeah. And our amazing athletics department. Well, thank you. That's right. Come on. And our coaches. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Everyone.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

Yes, we do have great coaches. I think that that is something I feel very grateful for. Um, just being a part of Covenant is our coaches really do make up, I would say, our school, um, our athletic department, I should say. Like they represent who we are and are an extension of just Covenant as a whole. So shout out to our coaches. Shout out.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

They're the best. Yep. Awesome. That's so many good athletic things going on. Um, we've talked for the last few episodes about senior thesis. That happened uh a couple weeks ago prior to spring break. Um, I was so impressed. Uh, I know y'all also got to sit in on some uh seniors' presentations, but it's just so cool to see the um passions uh that our students have right now that they want to dive deeper into um and talk about. Um just seeing across the board students talk about AI um and its relevance in culture and society today. Um I sat in on um a presentation by Adair Blurten, who was advocating that Covenant should incorporate a financial literacy uh component into its curriculum. So uh similar people talked about uh curriculum sort of uh adjustments um and recommendations, which I thought was so cool. So um yeah, just really special. Um yeah, y'all have anything to say there?

SPEAKER_03 8:42

I I just leave senior thesis week every year, truly just being so impressed. And like what they are doing is what you do in college. Like for normal students who go to nor like regular schools, like all of that stuff is something I did my freshman and sophomore year of college. And so I don't know, I know that it is so hard and I know it's a lot to ask, and like it stretches you and it challenges you, but they are going to be so prepared. Yes, like so prepared and so thankful when they get to their first English class or whatever you have it in in college when they're writing and having to give speeches and all this, like they're gonna be like, Oh, easy. I've done this before.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

I've written an eight to ten page paper before. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

And I've done the research and I've spoken to the people and I've given the presentation, like, check done. So if you're listening, seniors and current juniors, because I know that y'all are working on this right now, like just wait in two years, like this is gonna pay off and you're gonna be so grateful.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Absolutely, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

But yeah, like you were saying, it's just so impressive, and they crushed it. And I know that it's just a huge part of their senior year, and now it's over, and the fun things are happening. Fun things. Speaking of the fun things, uh the just uh just uh heads up on end of your events for everybody. Um we've got the week of all the celebrations for the senior class. So baccalaureate is May 19th, which is very exciting. And then we've got senior celebration, May 21st, the day before graduation. These are not like things that are open to the public, but you know, if you're a senior parent and you're wondering, oh, when is this happening? Just want to let you know. Um, and then graduation is Friday, May 22nd. So put those on your calendar. If you have a graduating senior this year, um, yeah, we can't wait to celebrate you and your child and have a party.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

So cliche of me, but this year has flown by. I just remember like the first day of school. So um, yeah, yeah. And if I may uh shout out someone really quickly, and I don't know if this is fully confirmed yet, but uh the baccalaureate speaker this year is my little sister, Keely Doyle class of 2016. Let's go, Keely and so beyond proud. Keely is um, I mean, I'm her older brother, so I should say this, but I I absolutely mean it with my whole heart. Um, the best human being I know. It's true. So kind, so um, just unbelievably compassionate. Um, I look up to my younger sister in so many ways. So um, I can't think of a better person to speak to our senior class than my younger sister. Yay, cute. I can't wait to hear it's gonna be so exciting.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

She's gonna crush it.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

So uh yeah, I'll confirm. Uh, if you are hearing my voice right now, that means that it is confirmed. So and it was left in the podcast. So, but I can't wait. Yeah. Um, so that's gonna be awesome. And then we also have some other fun advancement stuff coming on. Uh, we are currently uh grandparents' day uh week eve. It is next Friday. That was a really weird way of saying that. Next Friday. I was tracking, I was tracking 400 plus grandparents descending upon our Birdwood campus. So uh Birdwood families, uh be ready. Where are they gonna go? Awesome. So we park uh at uh First Baptist, which is on Park Street, and then we have an organized shuttle in the building.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

Like, where do they go?

SPEAKER_02 12:20

We have it's it's organized. It's an organized sort of cycle. They go and do classroom time, they have musical performances in the gym, they have another uh time for photos and um light refreshments, and uh it's gonna be great. Amazing. It's gonna be a lot of fun. So shout out to Kelly Thomas, she's been helping with our events uh this year in the advancement office. She's been an amazing help, as has uh Dan and Stock and uh Melissa Frazier and all the people at Birdwood um who this event uh really is showcasing.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

So and yourself, you have done a lot of work. I don't want you to, you know, shy away from that. This is your event. Thank you, Kyle. You're crushing it, Brady.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Yes, we are very much appreciate that. You're doing great. Thank you. Um, real quick, we have two other fun events that I want to put on your radar. One is our end of the year uh picnic celebration at King Family Vineyard. Um, come one, come all, uh Sunday, May 17th. We're just gonna be hanging out in the carriage house there. And um, it's a really great time, open field, so uh kids can run around and play and adults can gather and chit-chat and hang out. It'll be great. And then another one that I'm particularly uh just really excited about. We are doing an all-alumni reunion on Saturday, May 30th. Registration is live. I want to quickly say a big thank you to the alumni. Um, we have about 12 or so who have volunteered to be a part of our host committee who are helping to just uh encourage their friends to come. And it's um it's always fun to see alumni who um are excited to do these things for Covenant because it's a reminder of just like, yeah, we have people who are really passionate about our school, and that makes me really excited. Makes my job easy because uh then like people just want to see their friends. Yeah, and so I'm excited um that we get to create the forum and venue that that can happen. So come see your friends, come see your former teachers. Uh John Colemas will be there, of course. Um, who I know everyone's he's the entertainment for the event, actually. Headliner, just like uh, you know, Justin Bieber was at Coachella, and now all those videos are John Colmus will be the Colemas Cella. Yes, Colemus Cella.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

Colemus Cella.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Wow. Well, it'll be the best. So yeah, please come out. So really excited. Lots of really great things happening.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

So fun. Um, okay, that's all for news. It's time for the faculties of school. This one I'm really excited about because uh it's about this is we're shouting out Amy White, who is the nurse at the Hickory campus. And Amy is very dear to me. I consider her a friend and also just a mentor. And I mean, I think we all love her and think she's amazing. Um, because when you talk to her, you feel like you're the most important person in the room. And I think she's really good at that. Anyway, before I keep going on, here is what they submitted about you. Um, they wrote, nursing is by definition a profession rooted in service, and Nurse White exemplifies that calling each day. She places herself on the front lines of illness and injury with a calm, caring presence and a welcoming smile. Through her warmth and approachability, she creates a space where students feel safe and reassured, even in difficult moments. Her demeanor goes a long way in helping children know they will be okay, and her impact is felt well beyond the nurse's office. Um, this was submitted by Andrew Juge, and I just echo it all. Like it's all true. So true. And yeah, safe space is like how I would describe her. Um yeah, she's just very dear and loves our kids, like loves them and wants them to thrive and wants them to feel like this is a safe space for them. And yeah, I just it's so true, and we love you, and we're thankful for you. We love you in our sweat. Yes, okay, moving on.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Move it on. All right, today we are joined by three of our members of the class of 2026 with Owen Claudi, Price Lineweaver, and Savannah Wood. Thanks so much for joining, guys. Welcome. Excited to have you guys on. So the three of you are three of our five student athletes who just signed uh your national letters of attempt to play in the next level. Congratulations. That's a huge deal. We're really proud of y'all. Um so, Owen, we'll start with you and go down the line. Would love to just if you could just share your sport, uh, where you're committed to play at college, and then just in a nutshell, what drew you uh to the school you committed to?

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Yeah, I'm Owen. I'm committed to swim at Washington and Lee. And I think what really drew me to Washington and Lee is obviously it's an amazing school academically and just community-wise. And that matters to me because I'm going to college to go to college and swim, not to swim and go to college. But I think other than that, God just made it like very evident to me that that's where I was supposed to go. So awesome.

SPEAKER_08 17:36

Hey, I'm Price. I'm committed to run cross-country and track at the University of the South, SWANE. I think what led me to choosing SWANE was just the team environment. I went and toured, met some of the guys, and they were all just super cool. Love the coach there, and I think it's gonna be an awesome four years. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Hi, I'm Savannah, and I'm gonna be going to the University of Lynchburg to run tracking cross-country. And the thing that drew that most drew me to the school is um the team environment and just the people there. And right whenever I toured, I just knew I was gonna go there.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

So awesome. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_04 18:15

Um, you guys kind of spoke to this, but I know that it's a crazy road out there right now with just the recruiting process and um just college athletics in general. So we'd just love to hear a little bit more. Um, I know you guys kind of again shared this, but what about the school and the coaching staff like really drew you to the school you're interested in or going to? Um, what were the difficulties with the recruiting process? What were the fun parts? Are you guys glad that it's over? Are you sad that it's over? Just tell us a little more about that process. We can start with you, Savannah.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Okay, yeah. Um I think that something that really interested me in the recruiting process was just the coach at Lynchburg. He's um, I mean, he's he's he just graduated from Lynchburg too, and he ran there. So I think it's really, it's really cool to see that. And also the men is like one of the top D3s in the country for the men's. So I think it's really interesting because we're trying to like, you know, build up and hopefully beat William and Mary or William and Mary, Washington and Lee in our next uh competitions. That's our goal. So um yeah, we're trying to come for them. So that's the goal, yeah. So I just think it's really it's really cool to have like team goals and you know, like such a young coach that's really into making progress with the team, and I think it's really cool.

SPEAKER_04 19:26

Nice. And you told me also that you're going to their business school. Is that yes, ma'am? Nice, that's awesome, very cool. How about you, Price?

SPEAKER_08 19:34

Yeah, so my recruiting process was actually very interesting. I emailed coaches day and night, left and right. I emailed probably hundred, hundred and fifty schools at all levels, D1, D2, D3, probably in like 15 different states. I was I knew I wanted to run because I just love the community aspect of running and being on a team. And I knew it was something that would be really cool to do for four years. But um immediately, I think I signed up for like an athletic tour at Suwanee when I was doing my week of tours, and um, the coach got back to me within like 10 minutes of me like signing up for the tour, met him at a meet earlier that year, and just like he was so convincing that this is the place you need to be. And then I got on campus, met some of the guys, and was like, Yeah, this really is my spot here, toured some other great schools. Really just I had a lot of fun with the recruiting process, really um got to enjoy um just that that time, like getting to see all of those places. But at the end of the day, I the minute I stepped on Suwanee's campus, I knew I'd be going there for the next four years. So super pumped and yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

I've heard their campus is gorgeous. Is that right?

SPEAKER_08 21:00

Oh, yeah. It was actually ranked um the number one campus by the Princeton Review earlier this year. So yeah, second biggest campus in the country, 13,000 acres. Um so yeah, I'm so excited. I love the outdoors, so getting to hike, fish, and do some of those activities is gonna be really fun for me. That's that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 21:23

I met your mom for the first time before signing day last week, and she was saying the same thing how she's so glad you're going somewhere where you're gonna just love the four years, regardless if it's running, if it's going to school. Like it just seems like a really great fit. So very happy for you.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Thanks.

SPEAKER_04 21:37

How about you, Owen?

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Um, yeah, so recruiting for me, I think starting June after my sophomore year. Um, not exactly like Price. I wasn't emailing like a ton of places. Um I think I was searching more in a certain niche of school that's um high level academically, but also my be feasible for me to swim at. So definitely like faster D3s, smaller D1s. And just with the way things shook out, I ended up with two visits. One of them was at WNL and then one of them was at another D3 school. And obviously WNL has just like such a good community on their team. Such a good community in the school. And a lot of I know you can find Christian community anywhere, but a lot of good Christian community too. And that was something that was super important for me. And again just having that high level of academics. Yeah. And college recruiting was a stressful process. It's really, really hard to compete when you have recruiting in the back of your mind. And I think that really did influence how I was competing and how I was acting maybe towards a negative way. But I think through that challenge I did learn a lot about competing and having a healthy mindset. So I am glad it's over. Um but even with that being said, like I don't think that there's a possible way that I could have ended up in a better situation. Great. Like I think I'm in the best situation possible right now. So it's so great to hear.

SPEAKER_04 23:16

Yeah it definitely can be a very stressful process. And I think that that is something when I've had conversations with students is something that I try to highlight is it's very, very stressful because it's always in the back of your mind even when you're competing on your teams or running for your teams. And so I think that you know just trying to find joy in it in the little moments and also like being able to look back and realize wow that was really difficult but I'm in the best situation I could possibly be in. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Yeah. And I empathize like all three of you two runners and a swimmer like your sports are so quantitative. Like you get your time and that is your performance. And so I can yeah I just I empathize like I can understand how that would be a really stressful process.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

Sometimes it's by milliseconds.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

By milliseconds I know I know um but you guys are on the other side of it and you excelled while doing it. So seriously well done we're we're so proud of you.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

I would also like to add that now hopefully well hopefully like the weight is off your shoulders a little bit like you're feeling less stressed. Yes head nods good. I've I hope that you look back on your careers at Covenant and are proud of yourselves. Because like what you accomplished was really hard and also really amazing. And so I don't know lots of hard work like it's cool to see the fruits of your labor. Like to look back at your athletic careers at Covenant and be like I worked that hard to get myself to this point and I think that's great. Speaking of your athletic careers at Covenant I would love to go back to the beginning you know when you were in seventh, eighth grade. What a good time that was middle school. Everyone loves middle school. And I would love to hear how you got into your sport when you started running when you started swimming if it's even before then I would love to hear like the moment you were like I want to do this beyond my covenant career and I want to do it in college. And then on top of that we would love to hear your favorite Covenant athletics memory if you got it. Whoever wants to go first can go first.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

I'm ready okay so um I kind of got into running because I tried all the other sports and I was pretty bad at them I couldn't really throw in a straight line I couldn't really kick in a straight line or toward a goal. That's okay. So um it was pretty bad. And then I I did some swimming throughout my years and yeah Win's like an insane swimmer by the way I did swimming for like a little bit but I just running really just drew me in you know like seventh grade COVID year. Well sixth grade I did it at my middle school when I would walk in the woods when coach wasn't there. But we moved we've we we've moved past that thankfully now we're in a no now I just I can't even believe how far how far I've come like it's just crazy. But I think what really drew me to running is just like I I was just kind of good at it whenever I didn't even have to try you know like I just kind of felt like I had some ability there for the first time in sports for me. So I was like man I'm just gonna go with this. And also just like the team culture um it's really cool since like me and Price started at Covenant the same year. So we both got to like go through our like running careers together which was really fun. And I think honestly just the cross country team as a whole that's my my biggest memory is just like all the times I've had with those girls because I will never forget that.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

That's so special.

SPEAKER_08 26:36

Thanks Vela Alrighty yeah so my story is very similar to Savannah and I think honestly similar to most runners you might find because running isn't really a sport that um you can really do competitively until the later years of middle school early years of high school so I really wanted to be a baseball player actually that was my big thing played rec and travel all the years growing up but um it just really wasn't panning out. Um yeah unfortunately I was five foot nine 114 pounds you could see each one of my ribs on the That sounds like the classic baseball player build to me actually I don't know but uh I was not hitting the ball out of the infield and just I don't know things weren't really going well and I was asking God for a lot of guidance in eighth grade what should I do next and um my buddy over I was at uh Henley Middle School the feeder into Western at the time and my buddy told me to come out for indoor track and I still remember this December 17th 2021 I yeah I wanted to go out and break three minutes in the half mile or the 800 meters as we call it in track and I ran 243. And when I did that I was like this is going to be my thing I played one more season of baseball transferred to Covenant and realized I'm going all in on running and after that I'm just I'm a very sociable guy like huge extrovert love talking with people and in the sport where you get to do physical exercise and chat with your best friends like every day that was just something that really drew me into running and I uh yeah I knew pretty early on that this was something I wanted to do as long as I could um just to have fun and keep me active and had some success with it. We won a state championship my junior year.

SPEAKER_03 28:41

That's right.

SPEAKER_08 28:42

Um and yeah it uh ran decent myself have had some injuries this year but um yeah I've just really enjoyed being part of a team and being able to do that through the sport of running. So really excited to continue the next four years.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

Okay and what's your favorite memory?

SPEAKER_08 29:03

There's gotta be one that's a tough one. Okay because I I'll probably go winning the state championship because we all came together everything was right that actually no our team was so good that year but nothing went right that day. Our number two runner had pneumonia um Caleb who's an amazing runner for us was uh was dealing with some sickness Hudson was out with like a knee injury or something so we uh we were able to pull it together that day and um I don't know just the bonds I've created are gonna last a lifetime so I'm just so happy about that that's probably my favorite memories that's awesome here's how I know that I'm not a good runner is because I can't talk while I run because I'm like same can barely breathe.

SPEAKER_03 29:55

Same so you'll have to let me know some pointers after we're we're done recording so that I can chat while I run you know what I mean. Okay Owen what about you?

SPEAKER_01 30:05

So I've been swimming for a very long time at least in summer league probably since I was like five or six um wow I think the first reason my mom had me do swimming was because my handwriting was really bad. I think she googled like how to make your kids handwriting better or something and found out that like if you do swimming you get better at handwriting. How? I don't know but I did it improved your handwriting so maybe just improving your overall strength maybe I'm gonna have to I'm gonna look this up that's interesting fact checking this like I will be fact checking this with Martha this afternoon at the yes ask her please ask her because I mean maybe like if you're a kid maybe the best way to improve full body strength is swimming because it's not like you can hit the weights as a five year old. Right or maybe you can maybe you could start them young but um anyways I you know a lot of kids who end up being really fast at swimming they're like insane swimmers as like a kid. Like that wasn't me. I was like decent for Charlottesville Summer League but in terms of year-round swimming which I didn't really do full time in seventh grade I just dabbled around a little bit I was like yeah not that good. Um I don't know if I can put my finger on a specific thing that made me stay with swimming I think I probably was better at swimming than other sports but I do like to think that I could have excelled at something else if I had stuck with it. Such as soccer maybe maybe lax dabbled in a little bit of lax in ninth grade. But um dabbled in lax yeah I started doing year on swimming for real in seventh grade and then I didn't do anything else after I played lacrosse in ninth grade. Wow so um yeah wait what were what was like the entire question oh favorite memory I don't know I can tell you like the memory that made me think like I want to do this in college. Perfect go for it. Which was wasn't really like honestly wasn't really me thinking it it was just like the coach that was with my year-round program at the time was just like all right you guys are swimming in college when we were in like ninth grade he was like I'm gonna set like these personal goal meetings with you and like you guys are just swimming in college and like I'm gonna help you guys out with your recruiting. So it was kind of decided for me when I was a ninth grader. But I will say probably my overall favorite swimming memories I've had a lot of fun with year-round swimming but the best thing about swimming is relays and I haven't really gotten to do relays for my year-round team until this year because the other butterfly in our club up until now has been like an Olympian. So wow um you got a name drop um yeah Thomas Thomas Heilman oh right okay yeah so I haven't really gotten to do relays in anything except high school swimming until 12th grade so I think my favorite memories from swimming have been the covenant relays with like Will and Taylor and this year Jack Burn, last year Samuel but those are awesome man. You get so hyped for those those are the best thing about swimming.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

So that's sweet yeah real quick Owen I'm gonna give you the floor to uh excuse me guys uh we're recording uh uh our audio listeners uh just barging into our studio right now is uh yeah busting in is uh former wing and interview guest Patrick Estes. Patrick good seeing you'd see you're like uh you're like frame or you're like frame or bursting in and signal comments people in this room it's heartwarming as you were thank you never adult moment yeah never adult moment around here um where was I oh owen I'm gonna give you the floor to brag about yourself and the team in a second oh you've won how many consecutive state championships I think it's four I think it is four it is four I'd say that's a dynasty four it's a dynasty never lost a state championship in his high school career yeah look at this guy did you get rings do you have like a ring did you guys uh let's just say we never really thought about getting rings okay which is true we never really thought about it so yeah they're a lot of fun I will say I have yeah you have I've never worn it why it's just so cool it's so yeah you know why it's so cumbersome it's really cool it's a really cool thing to have in like a display case but it's not like something I'm ever gonna wear to an event or anything but that's a bummer. I wish you did get a ring. That's cool. Something that I love shifting gears a second uh we got to hear from y'all's head coaches the other day during your um signing days I think it's such a cool tradition just hearing um just the love that they have for you guys um and it was evident hearing what they had to say about their stories but I also love that that was kind of shared amongst you guys in there was a theme that you guys just shared for your favorite memories. Each of you talked about your teammates whether it was your relay Owen or um Savannah and price just the like getting to hang out with your teammates.

SPEAKER_08 35:37

I thought that was really special so along those lines I would love to know and we would love to know is there a coach or a teammate that has been particularly meaningful to you throughout your high school athletics career that you just want to uh shout out for a second and and share about um their investment in you yeah price is gone I'll have to go with Maddie Gardner and Reese Dalton when the program was young um back just when I was a baby freshman it was John Nathan Savannah Maddie Reese and I were all kind of uh running together and again I've loved running with Savannah so I I'll include you I'll include John Nathan John I've learned so much from John Nathan that kid has a crazy work ethic so do you Savannah but um I don't know they kind of took me under their wing as like the older kids on the team and I don't know I really learned a lot from them but had a lot of fun I had some older club teammates too Charlie Cownight and Owen Schifflet that just really changed my perspective on running taught me a lot and every single day I was like the baby brother of the group and it was as as an oldest child I didn't I don't experience that a whole lot so it was a lot of fun and every day was just oh man I wish I could go back to those times. It was it was it was so sweet. It was those were the days but yeah just have enjoyed running with each and every teammate and especially those that I had really intimate bonds with early on in my high school career.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

That's awesome. And real quick before Savannah and Owen share, you mentioned John Nathan so John Nathan Lawrence and Miller Grimes are other two spring athletes who signed last week um who couldn't be here today. But John Nathan is running at Princeton and Miller's playing volleyball at uh MIT.

SPEAKER_08 37:31

So he'll be casual just to mention something about John Nathan he went sub nine in the two mile this weekend at the Carolina distance carnival nuts which is like the high school accomplishment so just thought I would shout him out there. He is he's just had one heck of a season it's been fun to watch that's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Super fast Owens Fanner what about you guys um there's definitely a few people um I can say the most influential teammate for me has definitely been um Will Charlton I mean we've done club swimming together our whole high school career covenant swimming together um he's definitely been like a huge constant and a huge support for me. I'd like to think I've been the same for him as well. So yeah he's been a huge support for me and um would say coaches as far as that goes um I don't train primarily with Cosmo because I normally train with my club team but Cosmo's like an amazing human being and he's a good coach you know he does that full time now so gotta shout out Cosmo for helping to give me a great high school experience. I think probably the most influential coaches for me have been my club coaches. There's Coach Connor and Coach Gary. I mean they've like I feel like they've believed in me so much with my training and really like you know made me think I can be a good swimmer and push me towards that and um um older teammates on club there's definitely been a couple guys like um like obviously having Thomas there has always been super cool because he's an Olympian but I remember uh there's this one guy Max Moore he swims at Brown now but he was also one of the first people who made me think like dang I can be good at swimming and kind of took me under his wing. Um so yeah and obviously all the guys on club who um who have been in like my class this whole time um there's a couple of them who go to Western they're uh they're awesome guys as well and they've been big constants for me so that's great.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Yeah so I think um the I mean the biggest impact on my like high school career is just my coach coach done. I mean like I mean I feel like I've just been through so many growing stages with her just like growing through you know believing in myself which is something that like I usually don't do um just like trusting myself and actually thinking like hey I can actually be good at this um and she just you know she believed in me whenever I didn't at all and I think it's just I mean that's what kept me going. So yeah. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 40:20

So obviously you guys are going to college for your sport but that's not the only reason you're going you're going to go to school which is obviously very important. Um covenant is as I'm sure you guys know a very tough academic school. Um you guys are going to three great colleges where you're gonna get a great education. Savannah I already asked you this um earlier but would love to hear what you guys are planning to major in what you're excited to study. Um we can kind of tie this in also do you guys know anyone that goes to your college anyone that's gonna be on your team um so yeah just share what you're excited about for your future school um sorry can you say the question one more time of course I can so what are you majoring in at your school and do you know anyone that's going to your school or any recruits that you met along the process?

SPEAKER_01 41:10

Okay yeah um I'll be doing political science next year. Nice very cool at least um you don't have to have it all figured out yeah but I think that's what I want to do um as far as like guys in my recruiting class and guys on the team I already know um yeah obviously I had a great time with my host on my visit shout out Will Gordon he's a great guy um met some other guys on the team I mean they're all great guys um and then yeah I do know there's three guys in my recruiting class we have like 12 or 13 total but there's three of them that I know kind of in person pretty well from Virginia swimming. One of them actually goes to St. Chris so I swim with him in high school as well in club for Virginia swimming. And then there's two guys that I think we're gonna try to room together in a triple so I kind of know them. You're trying to be in a triple yeah wow you're brave wow um could never and then I we have like a group chat for the guys recruits and stuff so we kind of talk on that sometimes. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 42:26

Oh that's you already have a little community there. That's great. That's awesome. How about you price?

SPEAKER_08 42:32

Yeah so I kind of first found out about Swane because a kid that I've raced against for a few years named Parker Tallman from Woodbury. I didn't know him personally but every week there's this thing called the Ragged Mountain Pole where the top 15 runners in Charlottesville are ranked in cross country and I always wanted to be on that list and I was always like one person off in the number 15 every single week my sophomore year while he was a senior at the time was Parker Tallman so early on in my junior year when I was going to email schools I looked up oh what happened to this Parker kid and um turns out he was he went to Swane and again never met the kid in my life and I was curious what had happened and um turns out he's the nicest kid like he and I text probably once every two weeks and he's really taken me under his wing and as a fellow Charlottesville person because Swanie's like nine hours away so not a whole lot of Virginia representation but um he was one of the guys that I got to know very well. I'm really excited um to run with him my roommate next year is from Georgia I think pretty close to Athens so we're gonna go to we're gonna go to some Georgia football games hopefully which I'm excited about. And then uh yeah met some Some guys, my hosts from my visit are from New Orleans. They were both cool guys, and yeah, just looking forward to meeting more people. And uh next year I'm planning on majoring in finance.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Cool. Okay. Yeah. So um I'm kind of deciding between two things like what I want to major in. Um, I definitely want to go into something like businessy. Um, but I'm also thinking about being a physical therapist. So I might you know I could go one of two routes. So very cool. Um, yeah, I mean they have like this new program where it's like you can get your like master's of whatever. So I signed up for both, so we'll just have to see where that takes me. Um I think for the other recruits in my class, I've raced against a lot of them. Um actually, like whenever I went to this OneMeet earlier for indoor track, I raced against three of them in one race. So that was pretty fun. And then I got to meet them, you know, and I just recently got my roommate, and I'm really excited. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

Very, very cool. Such an exciting time. I know. I remember like the summer before college. Like the world just opens up. You meet so many people. It was the best. It's very true. Okay, to close us out, um, because we're nearing the end of our time. I would love to hear, like, you you've been at Covenant for a long time. You're about to go to college. What's one thing that you are gonna take with you to college that you learn from being here at Covenant, whether that's academically, spiritually, from your community. And then I also want to hear like what's one thing you would tell um like people who are like behind you at Covenant, like don't take for granted this, or like if there's one thing you should soak in from your time at Covenant, it's this. So no pressure. Just need a lot of wisdom. Some wisdom drops.

SPEAKER_08 45:53

I think the thing that I'm gonna take away from Covenant is it's important to develop meaningful relationships. I know that at the end of that we have to do academics, that uh athletics and results matter, but I think also having a support team behind you that really cares for you and has your back is something that is so important because they'll always be there for you. So I think develop meaningful relationships with the people around you is something I'm gonna take. And I think it's also something I would encourage younger Covenant students to do because you can't necessarily control the outcomes of performances, whether that's academic or athletic, but you can't control how you treat other people and you can can control the types of relationships you form and make. And that is something that I think is really important and will take you a long way in life.

SPEAKER_03 46:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 46:54

Micro for real.

SPEAKER_03 46:57

I love that that is what you are taking with you because like our school is like academically uh rigorous. Thank you. I was gonna say rigorous, but I was like, that's not it. Um and like it's challenging, and you're going to college for sports, and so you competed, and like I just feel like that speaks a lot to the community that we have here. And I don't know, what you've learned, it's not necessarily like I need to get A's or be the fastest.

SPEAKER_08 47:25

Like it all works out at the end. That's at least what I found in my experience.

SPEAKER_03 47:29

Yeah, that's awesome. Thanks for sharing that.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

I can go. So, um I would say the thing that I've learned the most from Covenant is probably the things I've learned through Covenant's Christian education, which I think is that you can like find God in like anything. Like even if it's school. Because I don't know, I feel like I've gone through this thing where I feel like having God integrated into our academics and what we're learning has like brought me closer to God, which is kind of like such a weird thing because it's it's school. Like I don't even like it all the time, and like sometimes it's boring, but yeah. And you can find him in the ordinary things. Um and that's I think why Christian education is so important. But um for one thing, not to like copy price, but like what he said is like so good. Like, seek, don't just like look for people to be around. Seek like meaningful relationships with people who you can actually like talk to about things and like people who are just gonna like bring something awesome to your life, you know. Um and then I would say the other thing is like we hear about like God so much at Covenant, like don't let that fall deaf on your ears just because you hear it so much. Like, don't let like the gospel and its message become something that's just like don't let it become something that is just like oh like blah blah blah. I've I've like heard this. Like that's the most important thing you could ever possibly hear. So don't take it for granted or like not think about it at all at all because like just because you hear it so much.

SPEAKER_03 49:44

Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 49:46

Yeah, so um, okay, so it's one thing that I'm taking with you to college, and one thing I would say to the younger Covenant Eagles, right? Some advice or whatever. Okay, so something that I learned at Covenant, especially, is that hard work really does pay off. And I feel like sometimes it takes years. And for me, especially, it did. Um, like I mean, now I'm just now as a senior seeing like the hard work that I put in from freshman, sophomore, junior year, that I was like, what's the point of this? Like, I'm not getting anything out of this. Where are the results? But now they're finally coming. So I think it's really important just to stay with your sport and really dedicate yourself to it and just don't give up on yourself because I think it's really important that you just enjoy the process too. And Price took what I was gonna say. And I was gonna talk about how meaningful relationships, I mean, it's just the core thing about Covenant. I mean, you're you're gonna you're gonna get older, you're not always gonna be able to run PRs and do all this stuff, but like you're always gonna have relationships with the people that you you have at Covenant. And I think, I mean, the girls on the cross-country team, I'm I'm gonna text them when I'm like 80 years old. So um, I'm just so glad that I got to meet them. So yeah, that my be my biggest piece of advice is to just um believe in yourself and just really trust your own abilities, but also enjoy the process and enjoy the people around you. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

I'm so impressed by y'all.

SPEAKER_00 51:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

Can I just say like we we do the faculty is the school segment like every week, and that's a tagline that our head of school Brad Baggett has sort of coined. Um, if I could add my own like flair to it too, it'd be the faculty is the school, but the students are covenant. And like this question that Callie asked is like, what have you learned from Covenant? I find myself learning from our students like every day. Yeah. And our mission statement is teaching the next generation to live well. But like I am continually blown away by y'all's empathy, y'all's compassion, your um just desire for deep and meaningful, vulnerable relationships. Like you three as an embodiment of our student body, like I think our next generation's gonna be pretty good.

SPEAKER_07 51:53

And is that forget about it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

And so, like, just from us to you guys, um, y'all are awesome. And like, we would think that of you if you went to any school, but you just happen to go to ours, and we're so privileged by that. So thanks for representing our student body so well. And yeah, you're gonna represent Lynchburg and Swanee and Washington LE so well too. So really, really uh impressed by you guys. And um, yeah, wherever life takes you, you're gonna go really far.

SPEAKER_03 52:22

Yeah, can't wait to see all that you do and accomplish. It's really awesome.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

Go Eagles.

SPEAKER_03 52:27

Amazing, go Eagles!

SPEAKER_01 52:28

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 52:29

Well, thanks for welcome, bro. Thank you. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

Thank you so much, guys for being on, y'all. Okay, we have yes, we need your help.

SPEAKER_03 52:36

Okay, here you go, Ashley.

SPEAKER_04 52:37

Take it away. Oh, do I get both Pokemon? Um, so we always end every episode with some Gen Z Gen Alpha Sling. And I figured since we have three fellow Gen Z Gen Zers um in the room, it would be great to ask for suggestions. So, what what's going around the halls nowadays? Anything different? Anything unique?

SPEAKER_03 52:58

What are you saying? Oh, and I know you say just. Yeah, oh and don't don't lie.

SPEAKER_08 53:02

I feel like this is a down period right now in like uh Gen Z slang.

SPEAKER_05 53:08

I mean it's springtime, everyone's tired. Just top of mind.

SPEAKER_02 53:12

Top of mind, what's been uh like this year? What have you been saying?

SPEAKER_08 53:17

I mean, 6'7 kind of died a long time ago. I don't really know, to be honest. I think that oh, oh, bro. Um hound dog.

SPEAKER_09 53:31

You know how it's like the excuse the Elvis soul.

SPEAKER_01 53:35

It's like this AI like Elvis guy, and it's like not the mother hound dog or something, bro.

SPEAKER_03 53:41

Like Elvis present.

SPEAKER_01 53:44

You guys gotta look up like this hounddog meme, bro. Like, I've just been seeing this on Instagram.

SPEAKER_05 53:48

I'm aware of Hound Dog, not the meme. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

It's obviously not niche anymore, but like I see it on IG all the time. So it's like this weird AI version of it. Yeah. Started to like it. AI songs have becoming a big thing. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_08 54:02

You had something. I came up with something at the exact same time. The YouTube Shorts Riz party recently was a big thing. So I guess there's an artist in our uh this is more like uh Gen Alpha, a little bit probably maybe eight years younger than us.

SPEAKER_09 54:20

Like, but recently there was like this birthday party of eight or nine-year-olds, and there was like a dance off between a dance off between uh like guys and girls at these on this little party to uh Ice Spice, which is an artist, and uh a new artist. Um it's a subsong about SpongeBob.

SPEAKER_06 54:47

What is happening?

SPEAKER_09 54:50

This kid got really into it. It was just big. Owen is doing the dance. Owen is currently doing the dance. I wish I had video to show y'all because it it's it's pretty great.

SPEAKER_05 55:01

But um, it's appropriate we would put it on the wing it at Instagram. I think so.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

I was just like, couldn't get out of my mind. Like, imagine someone 20 or 30 years ago hearing the sentence YouTube shorts win sport and trying to figure out what that means.

SPEAKER_05 55:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 55:22

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_05 55:23

I'm lost for words.

SPEAKER_02 55:24

So they had a deal of anything to add. No. She says no. No.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

Uh, I think you covered it. Yeah. Maybe we need to turn it into like Gen Z like pop culture, Gen Z culture instead of Gen Z slang. Because it's that is true.

SPEAKER_04 55:36

I feel like whenever we've had the youth on the podcast, yeah, it's never like an actual word. It's like this is what's cool right now.

SPEAKER_08 55:47

Y'all honestly probably need to transition to Gen Alpha too, because we're the last few years of Gen Z. I mean, I think it cuts off in like I'm Gen Z.

SPEAKER_05 55:55

Oh, you mean on the younger side on the younger side?

SPEAKER_08 55:57

I think it cuts off in like 2010 or 2012. That is true. I'm born in 2007. I'm pretty sure y'all are 08. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Um gosh. We're so old.

SPEAKER_04 56:11

Well, well, on that note, what a way to end. Thank you guys for being here. Yes, thank you very much, Ben.

SPEAKER_02 56:16

All the best.

SPEAKER_04 56:17

And as always, we're just swinging it.

SPEAKER_02 56:20

Thanks, y'all.

SPEAKER_04 56:21

Bye.

SPEAKER_02 56:21

Ciao.